英语三词短语动词构式语义生成机制研究

On the Semantic Generation Mechanism of Three-Word Phrasal Verb Constructions

英语三词短语动词构式Verb+Adverb+Preposition (VAP)是短语动词构式的一个子类,其语义复杂度主要体现在两方面:抽象性和多义性。本文基于概念整合理论,对《牛津当代英语成语词典》中的VAP构式进行穷尽式提取和分析,并探究典型VAP构式go in for的语义生成机制。研究发现:1)该构式三个成分经过语义调变后互补相融生成构式义,因整合路径不同而出现语义抽象化和同构多义现象;2)选显压制模式和隐/转喻机制是概念整合的关键,是推进概念整合、浮现新创意义、拓展构式语义的动因;论元结构激活了成分义中与论元概念域相调和的语义要素,使构式义得以细化;3)构式本身也具有多义生成能力。研究表明,概念整合理论可系统解释VAP构式语义生成机制;选显压制模式和隐/转喻机制则是该理论的有益补充。

The three-word phrasal verb,or Verb + Adverb + Preposition(VAP) construction,is a sub-category of English phrasal verb construction.Its semantic complexity is mainly reflected in two important features:opacity and polysemy.By exhaustively extracting VAP constructions from the Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English,and taking a typical example( "go in for") for illustration,we explored its mechanism of semantic generation based on the principles of conceptual integration.The following results were obtained.Firstly,the three components constitute conceptual resources for constructional meaning via accommodation whereby the multipath coding process contributes to opacity and polysemy of the construction.Secondly,principles of metaphtonymy and selection-salience coercion play a key role in the process of conceptual integration,emergence of the new meanings,and constructional polysemy.As the trigger of selective-salience coercion,the argument structure of the construction not only activates the accommodated conceptual elements but also plays an important role in elaborating and distinguishing the construction meanings and in forming the emergent space.Thirdly,the construction also has the ability to generate new meanings.The study also suggests that selection-salience coercion is a useful supplement to the mechanism of metaphtonymy in explaining the semantic generation mechanism of the VAP constructions.